The rustic bakery and coffeehouse coming to St. Anne’s Hill this fall has contributed an urban garden space to the neighborhood in one of the bakery’s first efforts to invest locally through philanthropy.

“We not only wanted to grow fresh herbs for our own kitchen, but the idea that a passerby could come and pick fresh basil, cilantro or sage for their own dinner really excited me,” said St. Anne the Tart owner Megan Smith. “We have a bus stop right in front of our bakery. How happy it would make me to see those waiting for transportation to be able to smell or snip off some garden herbs.”

The future home of St. Anne the Tart bakery at 1500 E. Fifth St. in Dayton. SUBMITTED

Smith, who has worked on humanitarian projects around the globe, said she is launching the bakery with sights not only set on stellar food and atmosphere, but with major philanthropic goals— with the first being an urban garden space that stretches along Fifth Street in St. Anne’s Hill.

“Urban garden space is being attributed to many community benefits, both seen and unseen, around the country. Researchers have found that these communal gardens not only provide stress relief from the concrete jungle, but also show evidence of making communities safer, with lower crime rates and increased property values,” according to a press release.

St. Anne the Tart bakery is slated to go into the former residential structure at 1509 E. Fifth St. (left). The former commercial structure at 1511 E. Fifth St. (right) is also owned by bakery founder Megan Smith, who hopes to open a business in the space sometime in 2018. SUBMITTED(Staff Writer)